Playing (Show)House… And A Video!

Before the Homearama show concluded this weekend, we slipped through on Friday with Teddy strapped into our baby carrier (Clara was with the grandparents) so we could check out the homes with visitors in them. It was fun to chat with show-goers, see our pantry getting filled up with food donations, and we even spotted a note someone left us on a notepad in the girl’s room of our house. But perhaps the most exciting thing we got to see in person was the People’s Choice Award that our house won! The votes were very close, and all of the other homes were so well done. It’s hard to put into words how much we’ve learned from this year-long experience. It has been such an honor to be involved.

Even though the show is over, we’ve still got more of our virtual tour to complete. Today we’re tackling the most playful spaces in the home: the kids’ bedrooms, their shared bathroom, and the playroom/reading room.

Let’s kick things off in the boys room (i.e. “Bedroom 3” on the floor plan). The walls are Moonshine by Benjamin Moore and the major focal point of the room is the built-in bed area. As a reminder, the show was really all about showing what the builder and his team could do (so specific carpentry updates were encouraged, just to keep the show interesting and showcase the possibilities to customize each home – even though they’re hardly one-size-fits-all modifications). This built-in fits a twin bed, which we covered with Target bedding, a couple of pillows from Ikea. If the future homeowner eventually wants a larger bed, a full or a queen could stick out into the room with the addition of a simple platform – and some rolling under-bed drawer storage could be added to offset those two drawers under the twin mattress that would no longer be accessible.

This desk is from Ikea but we scored it second-hand thanks to craigslist. The orange stool and wire basket are from Target (we wish the stool were a little shorter, but since it’s for an imaginary kid and we loved the bright color we let it be). The rope lamp and the star light are both HomeGoods finds – and the Legos throughout the room are from my own childhood collection (thanks for saving them all these years mom!).

The wood crate around the star was actually just its packaging from HomeGoods, but when we held it up we liked it there so we kept it. It filled out the space more and created a little ledge for a Lego meeting.

Our favorite part of the built-in bed was this raised nook area, which we all started calling the “Crow’s Nest” for some reason. We brainstormed these built-ins with John the Builder and John the Carpenter (not to be confused with me, John the Lego Hoarder) and they were instrumental in making it happen. Seriously, John the Carpenter and his crew are amazing. In fact, he found the rolling library ladder online somewhere and even used some old pipe fittings when we learned that top rail was going to put us over budget. The bug pillow and blue fabric up in the nook are both from Ikea. We didn’t have a chance to get something custom upholstered for that space, but a dog bed at HomeGoods miraculously fit the area nearly perfectly (which we wrapped in that Ikea bug fabric). The overhead light is from .

This room was Clara’s favorite in the house. Any time she joined us for a day of work, this is where you could find her. Partially because of her recent Lego kick, but also because of the Crow’s Nest. She’s a little wound up after a few too many hours spent in that house (we all were stir crazy at that point I think), but we actually caught her excitement for it on video:

We stocked the bookshelves with random stuff, but my favorite was the “Viking Octopus” h toy that was loaned to us by our friend Because why wouldn’t an octopus also be a bearded viking?

You can see our fun patterned carpet pretty nicely in this shot. It’s from a local place called ProSource, but the style is . We thought it’d be fun to do something interesting with the carpet in at least one of the rooms since most of the spaces had hardwoods except for a few of the bedrooms (John the Builder said his average buyer seems to prefer that mix).

On the other end of the bed there’s more drawer storage, a big wardrobe. We left it empty so the future owners could decide if they wanted more shelving in there or an extra clothing bar. There’s a closet on the other wall, so it’s bonus storage space either way.

The two kids bedrooms are connected by a shared Jack-and-Jill bathroom, which is pretty light/neutral itself (so that it flows between the two distinct bedrooms without feeling too disjointed). The walls are Simply White, the floors are a white lantern tile (found locally at a ) with gray grout so they hold up to kids a little better, and our colorful “moment” in here was the big vanity cabinet which was painted Courtyard Green by Benjamin Moore.

There’s also a wall-to-wall mirror with the and coming through it. The faucets sit above a that’s recessed into the white corian counter top (which makes it look shallow in this photo, but it’s plenty deep). It was awesome to hear from a bunch of show-goers that the big sink and those mirror-mounted faucets were their favorite things since they were definitely one of the more specific choices we made. Oh and the towels and bath accessories are from Target.

As you can see reflected in the picture above, behind the sink area is the bath/shower/toilet part of the bathroom, and we added some bonus storage via this shelf above the toilet. Once again, it was built by John the Carpenter (way back when the house was being roughed in last fall we had to plan for this shelving and have them set the toilet plumbing further from the wall to make room for it). The framed poster is from .

John also added this slatted wainscoting for us, which we thought contrasted nicely with the more ornate tile floor.

You saw a sneak peek of the shower back when it was half done, but we use two colors of glass tile ( and from The Tile Shop) to create chunky stripes. The showerhead is one of from Kohler since we figured kids would get a kick out of that. Heck, now we want one.

Here’s the other added sliver of storage that we worked into the room: a little towel nook behind the shower that we filled out with some rolled Target towels.

Let’s move on to our girls room. Fun fact: one of the most interested buyers for this house has two sons, so they’d adjust this room to work for a son instead of a pretend daughter (and you know Sherry will beg them to let us house crash them down the line). Anyway, we got our big window cornice installed, which was built by U-Fab in . We also mixed up the beside table situation (going for a blue Target side table and a yellow garden stool from HomeGoods), scooted the bed further into the middle of the room, added more pillows and a blue throw to the bed, hung some casual art, and even added some surprise string lights (more on those in a second).

We can’t forget “Princess Truthful” (the chicken painting loaned by our friend ) who is perched above the thrift store headboard (painted Hydrangea Flowers by Benjamin Moore), which is all against the (it’s Hibiscus over Simply White walls). Here’s a closer shot of the wall pattern, a glass based lamp from Target.

Now let’s shift over to our double desk. Not only does it add some nice concealed cabinet storage to the room (along with a big double closet that’s on the wall across from the bed) but it’s a nice big work surface. A lot of you weighed in on which two stations we should style it with (people tossed out things like a makeup area, a spot for art, a sewing zone, a homework area, etc) and we settled on an art station on one side (complete with a terrible tree painting by yours truly) and a homework side with notebooks and room for a laptop or desktop monitor but it’s really flexible so we’re interested to hear how the future owners use it down the line. You might remember that the chairs were rescued from a thrift store (we painted and upholstered them) and the pillows were from HomeGoods.

Now let’s get into the string lights. We wanted to do something with the small vaulted area of the ceiling above the desk, so we ordered a and strung them up on white cup hooks.

We had the electrician add an outlet up there for them to plug into, which connects to a switch by the door. They’re barely noticeable when they’re off, but are a fun surprise when they’re turned on. It was awesome to hear people’s reactions when they stepped into the room and noticed them during the show.

Speaking of the door, here’s a quick shot of that side of the room. It has some casual art taped up with washi tape, a framed poster from Ikea over the dresser, and one of from Target that we customized by the door.

When you head out that door, you end up back in the hallway near the playroom / reading room which sits behind two sliding french pocket doors. That way it can be an open family space when needed, or it can be closed off for quiet reading.

The prints in the hallway next to the door are from Ikea (they came in a pair).

The playroom walls are painted Dragonfly (by Ben Moore) and we originally planned to have the built-ins that were made by John the Carpenter painted that color too, but the painters missed that memo and they ended up white. When we walked though we decided the room felt good that way, so in the end it was a happy accident. The art on the wall to the right is from World Market and the wood plaque on the left is a thrift store find.

We also contemplated staging this space with a media console to look like a video game room, but decided to keep the layout a little simpler – just a low table () and two poufs that we bought from Target for playing games of the non-video variety. The rug in here is from .

Fun fact #2: we actually crazy glued the Monopoly pieces down after worrying that small kids might end up swallowing them (a prospective buyer with four kids came through before the show and her youngest daughter “taught” us that lesson – thank goodness she didn’t actually succeed in her mission to digest a few houses).

This room also has a big shelved closet off to the left-hand side for game storage and what-not. Clearly we went light on the styling, but we clutter up enough closets in our own house that I didn’t feel the need to demonstrate that “skill” here.

And with that dramatic game closet conclusion (I kid) we’ll end this 30-picture post. We hoped to include the other six remaining spaces, but we’re 2,000 words in and it’s clear that we need one more post to wrap this thing up – so that’s coming up for you next week, along with a video walk-thru that we shot.

In the meantime we’ll leave you with this professional video that was shot by the Homearama folks (it’s far more beautiful than ours, but it doesn’t include every room, and it was completed before we were finished, so some of the spaces are in their in-progress state). For example, you’ll get a glimpse at the dining room, but those chairs aren’t the final ones that we used, and the kids rooms were missing some key elements/tweaks. There’s also no music, so feel free to crank up your favorite tune and rock out. Or watch it oh so covertly at work.

Thanks to everyone who came to check out the showhouse in person, donated money to Habitat, left canned goods in our pantry, and cheered us on during this decorating marathon of sorts. Couldn’t have done it without you. Oh and as for what Teddy thought of the showhouse when we took him to check it out for the first time outside of the womb… the kid slept the whole time.

Psst – Wanna see more showhouse info & photos? Click here for Our Full Showhouse Tour, which includes final pictures of every room, the floor plan, budget info, a video walk-through, and shoppable showhouse furniture & accessories.

In order for it to be to code there needed to be a ledge/lip above the bed’s height and a middle divider (it’s actually two smaller windows next to each other with a slice of wall between them, and there’s a lip/ledge so the mattress doesn’t line up with the window bases).

I have to say, as much as I loved reading about this house on your blog, when I went to visit, it felt like a totally different experience in person! It was definitely my favorite home on the tour, mainly because of the brightness of everything. One thing I will say though, the flat paint on the walls left a lot of marks and scuffs. Any reason why you guys didn’t go with an eggshell or satin finish? Also, some of the floor tiles were a little slippery to walk on depending on your shoes. Probably because they were glossly. I would be very nervous if the floor was wet. Just something to think about for the future since i know ya’ll are planning on redoing a bathroom or two for yourselves. Thanks for everything you put into this house!

Thanks Leslie! I believe the walls were eggshell (except for bathrooms which were satin I think) but just from the sheer volume of people passing through there are always marks they have to touch up after the show (they get around 2,500+ people going through each weekend for three weeks in a row, so the houses really take a beating!). The bathrooms would also have bath mats in real life, so I hope they wouldn’t be too slick, but if they are John the Builder could hone/etch the tile (we’ve learned so much about making a house work for the specific buyer, so they literally can have a list of things they’d like to address and John can make it happen).

I had the same question. :) We are thinking about building a house in the next few years, and it would be awesome to have a library of video home tours like this one to go through as we think about our floor plan.

Loved seeing the showhouse in person on Friday too! Overheard a Homearama staff member explaining who YHL was to some older ladies along the lines of “They write a blog that thousands of people across the country follow…” The puzzled looks on their faces were pretty priceless. Blog?

Everything looks great! I really like how you have so many accessories that are affordable. I love shopping at Target and Home Goods and it’s satisfying to see how you’ve used them to have such an elegant look. Your personal touches in these rooms just make them so special.

I was so excited to run into you two when I was waiting for the shuttle on Friday!I know you didn’t cover it in this post, but I have to ask where you got the curtains for the guest bedroom? They are so dreamy! Great work on the house! It was by far my favorite!

Unreal! Every detail is so beautiful! It’s no wonder you guys won the people’s choice award. Thanks for the awesomely detailed post. Also, I just want to hang out with Clara. She is hilarious! What a riot!

It’s cool to see a video of the space – gives a whole different perspective!
Is there any recessed lighting in the boys room or is it just the funky yellow light? I feel like that would cast crazy shadows at nighttime and, while that might be cool for a kiddo at first, I’d think it would be hard to read/do homework/etc. We have a lamp in my son’s room that casts a fun light that almost looks like stars around the room – but we have to turn on the plain overhead light whenever we want to get anything done in there. Ha!

Good question! If you used a frosted bulb there wouldn’t be any funky shadows – we just like them so we used a clear bulb. There’s also a desk lamp for homework and the star on the wall that lights up, but no recessed lights in there.

The Crow’s Nest in the boy’s room is hands down the coolest thing I’ve ever seen. I’m so glad you included a video of Clara, because I thought it looked kind of small until I saw her in there lounging. I would have absolutely loved that as a kid (and as an adult)!

We went to visit on Sunday, and yours was definitely our favorite house. It was absolutely fantastic, and I really loved all the lighting choices! (and am really hoping for a source on the hall lighting upstairs–those were my favorite–or I could just look at the flyer we picked up that had all the sources :). Fantastic job!!

Aw thanks Julie! Those were from Shades of Light here in Richmond. We fell in love with them at that Greek restaurant Stella’s here in RVA (so good!) and found out they were Shades of Light so we did those in the hall.

Holy Crow’s Nest! Congratulations on winning people’s choice!!!! Boyfriend and I both voted for you (he made his own decision – I didn’t influence him one bit). Your house was gorgeous – it was so fun, welcoming, and full of personality. All of the designers put a lot of amazing work into their homes, but your house truly stood out as a place where I could realistically see myself living with the people I love. You guys went above and beyond with thoughtful, creative personal touches. I could have stayed in there for hours and I wish I could go back – just seeing this update I feel like I missed so many little things when I was there in person. Picture me running up to you like Will Ferrell in Elf and shouting “Congratulations! You did it! World’s best show home!” (and then for good measure, “John and Sherry?! I KNOW THEM!”)

Personal Bonus: your show gave us an excuse to take a mini vacation, see a new city, and visit some relatives. Greatest show house/trip ever!!!

This entire house turned out so cool! We have a similar event in my area called Chefs on Parade where local chefs will actually cook in the showhouse kitchens so patrons get to munch on delicious food while perusing the homes. Just can’t beat food and fancy houses.

Totally a weird question, but the art set in the girls’ room has “KMM” on the side—it looks like a monogram? Was that borrowed from a friend with those initials? Why do I feel the need to know the answer to this? :)

We drove down from DC this weekend to go to the show. There was a lot of travelers from far and wide there and all of the locals were surprised we heard of Homearama, it was all thanks to your blog of course. They had to have broken a record of visitors. I had to guess by the very detailed conversations I overheard in your house, that a lot of the people were your blog readers. I know like I feel I was along for the whole process, so seeing it come to life was amazing. My favorite was all of the bathrooms, especially the downstairs bathroom. It was like a little jewelry box. I never thought I would love a toilet design, but I just appreciate the amount of work that you put into every design choice.
I heard they are already working on 2015 Homearama. Do you think you would go through this again? You have a full plate already, but I can only imagine that they want your pull that your name brings them. Also, wondering if it would be hard to do something different (so that it wasn’t the same as this year’s) but weighing the pressure of winning the People’s Choice Award. How would you keep it fresh and different, but still appeal to the majority of the visitors? Thanks so much for sharing this journey with us. It has been awesome.

You’re so sweet Stephanie! We would love to work with John the Builder again, but we’re not quite ready to sign on for Homearama 2015 since it’s already starting and life with a newborn is a little too much to envision adding that to our plates right now. But down the line we’d love to do something! Not sure if it’s another Homearama or a spec house with John the Builder or some other project for charity or something. We shall see!

I’ve been wondering this since you started posting photos of the finished spaces. Does a cleaning crew have to come in after every weekend? I imagine with so many people walking through the floors at least need to be cleaned. If the counters and other surfaces get cleaned, do the cleaning crews re-set all the staged items? I can just imagine a map for them showing where all the Legos belong…

Yes, I think everything is cleaned each week between the three weeks of the show, but they’re amazing at lifting something up, cleaning under, and putting it back down. When we passed through this weekend, other than a few switched around pillows, pretty much everything was exactly where we left it!

Congratulations! The house is amazing – I can see why it won the People’s Choice award!!! I really enjoyed the video. I saw the master bath and I am seriously drooling. So much fun inspiration. Great job!

LOVED walking through this house last weekend! You may have covered in another post but I can’t find it- where did the gray dresser by the front door come from? My husband has promised it to me if we can find it! :) yay!

I am tickled pink that you found the little love note in the girls room. My daughter wrote it before I could catch her, and then when I read it, I thought it was great. I tried to convince her to sign her name, but I think my initial crazy “LOOK WITH YOUR EYES AND NOT YOUR HANDS!!!!” immediately made her shy. We loved the house, and felt so inspired to go home and get to work, especially on Grace’s little girl room!

I just let Pandora choose my music for me – The Weight of Lies by the Avett Brothers came on… and it was actually so nice- made an awesome video haha! I love the house. The video makes it feel like such a different space and really helps me understand the layout. Gah so gorg.

I’m continuing to be wowed by every single space – and I could live in that boys’ room for the entire rest of my life. That crow’s nest! Omg.

Also, I’m loving the idea of you guys putting together the Lego sets to decorate. John, you would have loved my high school job – I used to work at a toy store called Zany Brainy and sometimes I’d come in and my role for the day would be to assemble a big Lego or K’nex or Playmobil set for display. And I got PAID to do it! Amazing.

The closet is on the wall across from the bed (you can see that better by checking out the highlighted floor plan). We didn’t think a dresser was necessary with a big closet and all that storage around the bed, so that’s why we went for a desk on the wall to the right of the bed. I shouted out the too-tall stool in the post (since it’s for an imaginary boy and we liked the color we let it be) but of course when a real family moves in they can put a bigger desk or a dresser there if they’d like.

Quite simply gorgeous in every way. I’m such a huge fan. Thank you so very much for the inspiration (I’ve copied your map frames and many other YHL-inspired projects). Can you please tell me where you got the blue/white pillows in the game room?

Thanks for including that video of Clara–I was having a hard time visualizing the scale of the crow’s nest so at first it didn’t look like a child could fit in there comfortably. But once I saw the video, it made sense. What a cool feature!

What frames did you put the “Home” and “Love” prints inside? We were so close to buying those but the white background looked a little funky with the white in the Ikea frames. I was worried we wouldn’t be able to find a frame that fit since Ikea’s sizes can be wonky!

Congrats on the People’s Choice Award!
I absolutely love the painting in the playroom / reading room and was wondering where it came from? I don’t recall you saying/linking it any previous posts. If you did and I missed it somehow, I apologize.
I just have to say that you guys did a fantastic job with the house. You did so many things that I would normally not do or think of and I love how everything turned out. I’ll be using so many of the ideas for my own home. =)